Winnipeg Jets & Farm Team Collective Performance 2011-2013

The professional hockey world shifted a bit when Atlanta Thrashers relocated to become the Winnipeg Jets. Not only did the NHL get affected, but so did the minor league affiliations which needed to be reestablished.

Atlanta had affiliations with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and the Gwinnett Glaidiators of the ECHL. Those were ended in the summer of 2011 when Winnipeg established a new affiliation hierarchy by forming a new team in St. John’s and establishing an agreement with a new ECHL team, the Colorado Eagles.

The purpose of this post is to track how the three teams have risen and fallen along side each other to see if there is any pattern.

2011-12 Regular Season

Team

G

W

L

OTL

P

Win %

GF

GA

Division Finish

Season Change

Colorado Eagles (ECHL)

72

38

28

6

82

52.78%

250

252

2nd, Mountain

-7.83 pp *

↓

St-Johns IceCaps (AHL)

76

43

25

8

94

56.58%

240

216

1st, Atlantic

— **

Winnipeg Jets
(NHL)

82

37

35

10

84

45.12%

225

246

4th, Southeast

+3.66 pp ***

↑

* same team from CHL, but considered to be an expansion franchise for the ECHL. For the record, if there is any question about whether the CHL or ECHL ranks higher in the professional hockey hierarchy, it is pretty apparent to me that the CHL is a step below the ECHL. If you look at the HockeyDB list of the 2010-11 Eagles who played in the CHL and the 2011-12 Eagles who played in the ECHL, you will see that core players are unchanged. Yet the same team that almost won the CHL Championship was knocked out in the first round of the ECHL playoffs.

** new team though franchise was moved from Winnipeg where it operated as the Manitoba Moose.

*** team and franchise moved from Atlanta Thrashers.

2011-12 Playoffs

Team

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Season Change

Colorado Eagles (ECHL)

L, 0–3

—

—

—

↓ 3 levels

St-Johns IceCaps (AHL)

W, 3–1

W, 4–3

L, 0–4

—

—

Winnipeg Jets
(NHL)

DNQ

—

—

—

↔ DNQ x 4 | x 1 as Jets

So for a first year, all three franchises were new to their city and or league. The St-John’s IceCaps had the best breakout year, establishing themselves as a solid regular season team and won a couple of playoff rounds. The Winnipeg Jets unfortunately carried on the losing tradition of the Thrashers while the Eagles could not repeat the success they had in the CHL.

Unfortunately for NHL Hockey fans the 2012-13 season was almost halved due to the player lockout. The AHL and ECHL teams continued their full schedule.

2012-13 Regular Season

Team

G

W

L

OTL

P

Win %

GF

GA

Division Finish

Season Change

Colorado Eagles (ECHL)

72

34

31

7

75

47.22%

239

224

3rd, Mountain

-5.56 pp

↓

St-Johns IceCaps (AHL)

76

32

36

8

72

42.11%

195

237

5th, Atlantic

-14.47 pp

↓

Winnipeg Jets
(NHL)

48

24

21

3

51

50.00%

128

144

2nd, Southeast

+4.88 pp

↑

Only the Jets made some modest improvement over the previous season, while the Eagles continued their downward slide for the 2nd season and the IceCaps had a complete reversal over their successful first year, falling from 1st to 5th and last in their division.

2012-13 Playoffs

Team

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Season Change

Colorado Eagles (ECHL)

L, 2–4

—

—

—

↔ level x 2

St-Johns IceCaps (AHL)

DNQ

—

—

—

↓ 3 levels

Winnipeg Jets
(NHL)

DNQ

—

—

—

↔ DNQ x 5 | x 2 as Jets

True North Sports and Entertainment had little to be happy about with only the ECHL franchise making the playoffs but being eliminated in the 1st round. The Jets and IceCaps both did not qualify for the post-season, with the Jets/Thrashers doing so for the fifth straight season. The move to Winnipeg did not result in the improved on-ice results that fans wished for.

Chris Billows is a knowledge seeker, a libertarian who believes in social responsibility, a health care bureaucrat, and a business dabbler. The Journals of Doc Surge is his personal blog.
Doc Surge (a cool synonym for Billows) is inspired by Doc Brass from the Planetary Comic series who in turn was inspired by the 1930s pulp hero Doc Savage.